What (anime) are you watching?

seitora

Well-Known Member
I watched the first five episodes of BNA: Brand New Animal while on night shift. Probably try to get the majority remaining tonight.

I think they designed Michiru for max cuteness factor. I totally want to boop her nose, in all honesty. I do wonder if there's an in-universe reason why she's only like, 20-25% on the furry scale while everyone else is full-blown anthro furry. I notice that she doesn't even reveal her name until the 2nd episode, ha.

Also, is Michiru really 17/18 during the events of the first few episodes? Huh. I would have pegged her for being more like 14ish. Maybe it's her normal clothing, especially with those boyshorts of hers, or her flat chest that's throwing me off :p Also, though it's off-screen, there's the implication that the bears baseball team stripped her of all her topclothes in episode 5...

Michiru's parents haven't appeared on-screen (yet?), but they really, genuinely do love her. Her mom made a cake and put a picture of it on her FaceLook page for her birthday since obviously they can't meet in person, and Michiru basically said she stayed in her room for close to a year after turning into a beastman before deciding to head to Anima City. That means her parents actually didn't have any xenophilia against beastmen (or at least, not enough to overcome their love for their daughter) to throw her out, and let her mope around for a year.

I'm actually, genuinely surprised that Michiru was able to turn back into a human in episode 4. I would have thought it'd take the majority of the series to do so.

On that note, I'm going to guess the ending will be something like 'Michiru has the chance to get a cure to become fully human again but turns it down to stay in Anima City'. In that event, the show needs to do a very good job in the remaining 7 episodes of showing Anima City for the better, because holy fuck, it's a dystopian hellhole underneath all the nice buildings. Child slavery, drug-running, and fixed gambling on baseball that commonly results in fatalities.
 

seitora

Well-Known Member
And finished watching the remaining 7 episodes.

Up to about episode 9 it's a reasonably alright series. Starting about episode 10, it starts to fall apart, with episode 12 an absolute trainwreck. Batshit plot twists out of nowhere with no foreshadowing. Michiru's personal ending was pretty much exactly how I expected, but it didn't do a very good job of selling that the crapsack part was changing for the better.

I might have a fic idea or two, but I'd probably throw out the last few episodes and the whole overarching bad-guy conspiracy and just make it a slice-of-life fish-out-of-water.

Also, I'm mildly amused that she's absolutely flat as a board. There are some characters with obvious chests, but Michiru...isn't one of them.
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
Have not found too much in the new season stuff at Crunchyroll I actually consider viewable outside of the updated slime series, and to a lesser extent the updated Re: Zero... Was hoping for updated Shield Hero or Arifureta...

Currently rewatching Utena and Please Twins off Blu Ray and DVD, respectively.

Eventually, I want to see about the new Irregular at Magic High School eps on Hulu.
 

seitora

Well-Known Member
Watched the first 8 episodes of Kill la Kill

It's actually been fun to watch, with moderate ecchi elements. I wonder what it says about me that I keep seeming to watch stuff with strong female leads lol. The pacing seems to move at breakneck pace, though. There's a couple of times where it builds up to a climactic battle, only to yank the chain and go back to square one. I find it kind of funny that Ryuko Matoi breaks into Honnouji Academy with the intention of fighting the top honchos, then...just goes to school on a daily basis for classes. Definitely a kind of funny absurdity to fit in with the over-the-top dystopian setting.

The cheap animation annoys me a lot. Lots of cut-ins, obvious repeated animation for several seconds, still background with one character moving, or segments of characters talking with barely any motion. I mean, that's par for the course with a lot of anime, but still always aggravating. There's a couple of episodes where at least they're throwing tons of new mooks with unique designs for Ryuko to demolish at rapidfire pacing.

Ryuko Matoi just has a cute design in general. Not totally sure why. I guess it just feels like her looks is relatively under-stated? Red toussle of hair aside, she's mostly got a plain design. But that mid-length hair!

I guess, so far, I don't know what this show is actually about. I mean, I know the overall premise of Ryuko trying to find her father's killer, but I'm not quite sure where the ending is going from here. I guess the 'Nudist Beach' organisation and the motif of clothes that has occasionally popped up will turn into a bit of a thematic ending, something like 'clothes make us' versus 'clothes restrict us'. Ryuko having to embrace showing off more skin is definitely funny, and even if it doesn't end up being that way, I'm still going to headcanon her being a hardcore exhibitionist.

As a random aside...I'm watching this in English dub voices. I tried about half an episode with the Japanese voices, and wow. Somehow, the voices sound almost identical between languages, like they have the same pitch but just speaking different languages.
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
I sort of liked most of it, sort of did not like some of it. The art style is different, but that is just the style. I personally don't care for the art style or the fan service (or the one group called naked beach), which at some points is fairly extreme... It is also a bit too slapstick for my own tastes...

Having said all that, I actually did for the most part liked it.

Wish there was more and better fan fiction for it though.
 

seitora

Well-Known Member
Finished episodes 9 through 16 of Kill la Kill.

Some of the thematic stuff finally starting to come together well, as well as who the bad guys overall are. I feel like the backstory revealed in episode 16 is a subtle satire of other shows like NGE. Also adore how they absolutely skewer the concept of 'recap episodes' by doing a recap in an extremely abridged 2 minutes!

Animation definitely finally stepped up. The first six episodes of the show I felt were fairly cheap, but either they were still breaking their animation chops in or they focused less attention on the first quarter
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
I watched the first five episodes of BNA: Brand New Animal while on night shift. Probably try to get the majority remaining tonight.
Thanks for the recommendation... I myself did not watch it, but my Brother did after I told him of your take... He liked it and watched it all in two sittings...
 

seitora

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the recommendation... I myself did not watch it, but my Brother did after I told him of your take... He liked it and watched it all in two sittings...
What did he think of the ending? As I mentioned in my follow-up post, I thoroughly dislike the ending, but if I ignore most of the last three episodes I can make it work for a setting in fanfic.
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
What did he think of the ending? As I mentioned in my follow-up post, I thoroughly dislike the ending, but if I ignore most of the last three episodes I can make it work for a setting in fanfic.
He said the series as a whole was great, the ending he was only ok with, but could see why you did not like it.

He was hoping more would have developed with the two main characters than it did... I mentioned it would be unlikely given the fact one was 1000 years old and was not interested in romance...
 

seitora

Well-Known Member
Yeah, for sure. Any straight pairing in my head would basically have to use an OC.

I actually did forget to make a post about it, but I finished watching Kill La Kill a week back, except for the OVA which I can't find online to watch. Netflix doesn't have the OVA. I enjoyed it. I can definitely see why it's highly-rated. I kind of feel like they started with 'how can we get away with showing as much skin as possible in an anime that goes on air', then worked backwards from that come up with a premise that demands it lol. Ryuuko is a very cute protagonist.

Speaking of Netflix, stop cheaping out by using the Japanese version English subtitles for the English dub. Gaaaah!
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
finished watching Ben-To. Finished rewatching Please Twins. Got caught up on bothh the Re:Zero and the Slime Series.
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
Watched Promare

Started re-watching Omamori Himari

Started watching Sky Wizards Academy

Caught up on slime series and Re:Zero

Started re-watching Campione

Started watching Tenchi Muyo Ryo Ohki... later seasons.

Had someone recommend Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, not seen it, may give it a try.
 

himperion

Well-Known Member
Another repo of Slayers, Those who hunt elves, and Saber J.

Kinda sad how they left Saber J to die with To X.
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
They kept stating there was going to be more Saber Marionette... but as far as I know only J, J Again, J to X, and R exist, there was never anything else.

I know a couple years backk or so they talked about a long awaited sequel, but it never showed, and the Anime News Network has no info page for it that I'm aware.
 

chronodekar

Obsessively signs his posts
Staff member
I liked the original Saber Marionette J anime. The spinoffs after that were nice to watch - but they reminded me more of a slice-of-life show than anything else. Also, IIRC, in the very last spinoff, the Marionettes .. without mentioning spoilers ... well, accomplish something. It felt like a nice ending to the series. Feels weird to continue beyond that point.

-chronodekar
 

himperion

Well-Known Member
J to X ending was 50/50 for me, because it did reharsed the original series ending like in a 90%, even if the final product of it was floating on the air from the specials and how R main plotpoint was that the three Marionettes got a legend big enough to get more on different countries named like the originals, and the protag being born from a woman, instead of a clone.
 

MnemoD

Well-Known Member
Anyone else excited for Isekai Maou S2? I'm psyched. We're getting a bunch of great S2s in Summer, and there's quite a few things I'm interested in that have been announced but have no date yet.
 

chronodekar

Obsessively signs his posts
Staff member
I started watching Re:zero season 2, part 2. Episode 14+15.

My impression of episode 14 is that we might not see too many loops this time round. Which would be a good thing. Some change is appreciated!

A kiss just happened (episode 15). The way this show goes ... I wonder if it will be part of the next cycle or not?

-chronodekar
 

MnemoD

Well-Known Member
The 3rd Heavens Feel movie went up on sites yesterday, which I watched and was... whelmed by- but that's to be expected considering the COVID business. The Rider v. Saber fight, though? Mn. *Chef's Kiss.*

How Not To Summon a Demon Lord S2, Reincarnated as a Slime S2, I'm a Spider, So What? are what I'm watching. I'm contemplating watching Pretty Boy Detective Club because I'm gay as hell- Higehero and Don't Bully Me Nagatoro are both things I read the manga of, and so I don't have any interest in watching them because I'm caught up in the "now" rather than "back at the start".
 

chronodekar

Obsessively signs his posts
Staff member
Just finished binging Re: zero season 2, part 2.

@PCHeintz72,

In an earlier discussion about the show you mentioned how one of the male lead's unique skills left a not-satisfactory impression. Specifically, each time that skill was used it felt like ... a re-hash of familiar material. I have some good news - it does not happen in part 2. Not in any of the episodes.

Basically, Subaru does not use his re-spawn from death skill during these last 12 or 13 episodes.

To be fair, I do not expect this to make you want to pick up the show again ... but well, if you are bored and want to watch something perhaps you might reconsider?

Having said that ... my take on this season is that the show felt disappointing. At the *end* of the season - basically the last or second-to-last episode, Subaru gets a significant power-up. Heck, even some parts about his relationships change. And I really, REALLY am interested to see what the after-effects of these would be to the show. But the journey to get here? Just wasn't interesting. :(

Here is another way of looking at things - the first season of the show drew me in. Subaru had this really unique ability - we see him use it across a few arcs and get some really nice world-building. I enjoyed it all. With season 2? There *is* a bit of world-building in part-1, but as we switch over to part-2, things become *very* personal to the different characters. We see back-stories of a few more characters, which if you liked them would be of much interest and fun. But for me? It felt slow/heavy in the "when will this be over?" kind of way.

I'll probably watch season 3 if they release it. But season 2 ? Felt like there was too much exposition and not enough plot.

-chronodekar
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
You are referring to the deal with Rossweiss... I never stopped watching, I merely did not care for its IMHO over-use and crutch...
 

seitora

Well-Known Member
Watched Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid. Tohru, Kanna, and Kobayashi are all heccin cute. There are a few shorts that are being released piecemeal once a week, too, in the run-up to Season 2 sometimes this year.
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
Finished watching Zega Pain... interesting series, but I am disappointed in the ending episode...
 
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